


A Blessing in Disguise

by guardianinthesky



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-18 13:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2349743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guardianinthesky/pseuds/guardianinthesky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a prompt: knocking on the wrong door au.</p>
<p>While searching for his old professor, Loki finds something much better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Blessing in Disguise

**Author's Note:**

> [Can also be read on my tumblr.](http://www.guardianinthesky.tumblr.com)

This had, without a doubt, been one of the worst days of his life. Actually, scratch that. He’d had way worse. Much worse. Even so, this one hadn’t been particularly enjoyable. He’d spent about eight hours on a train, one hour walking around in the rain, and another ten minutes cursing loudly when he’d dropped his umbrella and the wind had managed to steal it away from him. 

This had better be worth it. 

He walked up the steps to the green house, wrinkling his nose when he caught sight of his own reflection in one of the windows. He was a mess. A big mess. He needed to take a shower, preferably a hot one, and change into some dry clothes. He realised he wouldn't be able to do either of those things in the next couple of hours, but maybe he could at least get to borrow a towel or something? His hair was really fucking wet. 

Once he’d taken a deep breath, which really didn’t help him calm down in the slightest, Loki reached up and pressed the button to ring the doorbell. Nothing. He couldn’t hear anything. Did it even work? 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he muttered, and knocked three times instead, before stepping back and pursing his lips as he waited. He heard someone moving around on the other side of the door, and he quickly put a polite smile on his face. 

The smile disappeared as soon as the door opened and he saw who was standing in front of him. 

Who the hell was this? Loki frowned. That did not look like his old professor. Unless he had undergone a lot of plastic surgery. This guy was blond, and tall, and so much younger than his professor had been. In fact, he looked to be his age. Loki licked his surprisingly dry lips, suddenly a lot more aware of the messy state he was in. 

“Can I help you?” The other man raised his eyebrows, obviously waiting for him to actually say something, and Loki looked down at the note in his hand. It was definitely the right address. Wasn’t it?

“Yes, um… Does Graham Marston live here?” 

Loki watched as he tilted his head to the side and leaned against the doorframe, narrowing his eyes as he seemed to be thinking about it. It was a simple question. Yes or no. And it was obviously a no, because if his old professor had lived here, this blond person wouldn’t have had to think about it for so long. 

“I think… Yeah, that’s the guy who lived here before Mrs. Johnson.” 

Loki had absolutely no idea who Mrs. Johnson was, nor was he interested in finding that out. He was fucking exhausted from travelling all day, and he just wanted to know if he’d come to the right place or not. Actually, he wanted to sit down. He wanted to rest for a little while. His legs hurt. His feet too, for that matter. 

“So he’s moved?” 

“Yeah. About five years ago.” 

Great. Just what he needed. What was he supposed to do now? 

“I’m Thor.”

Loki threw him a barely interested look before letting out a sigh. “Do you know where he lives now?”

Thor shrugged his shoulders.

“No idea. Sorry.” 

Loki nodded his head, almost as if he was trying to convince himself that this was really happening, that he’d really gone all this way only to find out that professor Marston had moved. He should have looked it up. He should have made sure that he still lived here before he did something as stupid as this, but no. No, he had to jump on a fucking train, and… Whatever. It would be fine. So what if he’d travelled all day for nothing? So what if he was wet and probably smelly? Not to mention hungry. He hadn’t eaten anything other than some yogurt and half a banana. That had been five hours ago. 

“Right.” He let out a heavy sigh and folded the note before putting it back in his pocket. “Well, I guess I should go. Sorry for... Sorry.” He turned around, but didn’t make it more than a couple of steps before he was stopped. 

“Wait.” He turned back to Thor, who looked to be hesitating about something. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come inside? You look pretty cold. You could wait here until it stops raining.” Loki tilted his head back, looking up at the darkened sky. He hadn’t even realized that it had started raining again. A couple of raindrops got themselves stuck in his eyelashes, and he blinked twice before he turned his head back down, watching Thor as he considered his offer. It was nice of him, of course, but did he really want to spend the rest of the day with a complete stranger? Hadn’t this day been bad enough? Besides, he could be a crazy person or something. He could have people locked up in his basement, and Loki was about to become his latest victim.

Then again, did he really want to walk all the way back to the train station in this weather? He wasn't even carrying an umbrella anymore. Loki huffed out a breath, deciding that he would just have to risk it. If he did ended up getting brutally killed, then at least he would be brutally killed in a nice, hopefully warm house. He nodded his head and walked back to the door, giving Thor a small smile as he stepped inside. 

He quickly took off his dirty shoes, deciding that spreading mud all over the house was one of those things that could probably get him kicked back out again. He raised a brow as he inspected his surroundings, deciding that the house looked about the same as he had expected it to. It looked clean. Surprisingly clean, actually. He tried to determine if Thor was living here all by himself, or if he had a wife or something. The curtains that framed the small windows next to the door were a bit too feminine for his taste, with tiny, pink flowers on them. When he looked to the coat rack, though, he saw no jackets meant for women, and he couldn’t help but feel just a little relieved at that. He wasn’t sure why. After all, he would only be staying for a couple of hours. Thor having a wife or even a girlfriend shouldn’t have mattered to him. 

He took another couple of steps inside, turning his head to look at the living room. Again, it was nicely furnished, with a big, red couch that looked incredibly comfortable, a TV with a shelf full of movies standing right behind it, and lots of framed pictures on the walls. He slowly turned back to look at Thor, who was smiling at him. 

"You never told me your name."

"Loki." He reached out, offering his hand to Thor. "My name is Loki." 

Thor's smile widened, and he grabbed his hand, giving it a firm shake. 

"Nice to meet you, Loki. Are you hungry? I could make you something to eat. There's a bathroom upstairs in case you'd like to clean up." 

Loki was once again reminded of the fact that he probably looked like a mess, and he could feel his cheeks heating up at the thought. There was a part of him that wanted to tell Thor that he didn’t normally look like this, that he was usually much more put together, but he decided to try to save what little pride he had left. Instead, he just nodded his head. "Thank you. That would be great." 

Thor led him up the stairs, opening the door and turning on the lights before stepping aside to let Loki into the bathroom. It was blue. Very blue. The walls were blue, the shower curtain was blue, and Loki raised his eyebrows and wondered if he’d just discovered Thor’s favorite color or something. 

"Towels are here," Thor said, pointing at a shelf to the right. "Help yourself to whatever you need. If you want to take a shower..." He stepped over and pulled the curtain to the side. "It's a bit tricky, but you just have to pull this..." Loki wasn't sure what he was doing, but the water came a moment later, and he realized that he really did want that shower, even if he wouldn't be taking it in his own place. He glanced over at the mirror and cringed, wondering how he was supposed to convince Thor that he was actually a pretty good looking guy. Not that he was here to convince him of anything. 

Thor didn't seem to care, though. He just gave him another smile and left the room, but not before telling him to come back downstairs as soon as he'd finished. Loki nodded his head and locked the door behind him. Well. This was weird. He hadn't expected to end up inside some stranger's bathroom, and he certainly hadn't expected to be taking a shower in that stranger’s bathroom. Maybe he was planning on killing him after he'd taken a shower? What if Thor hated having unclean victims or something like that? Loki tried not to think about that famous scene from ‘Psycho’ as he stripped down and reached out to make sure that the water was the right temperature.

The shower was just what he'd needed after such a long and hard day, and Loki felt a thousand times better as soon as he reached for a towel to dry himself off. He looked down at his discarded clothes and decided that he wasn't wearing those again, at least not until they were somewhat dry again. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he unlocked the door and stepped back out, immediately bumping into a firm chest.

"Oh, sorry." Thor gave him a sheepish look. "I was just going to give you some clothes to wear. Here. These are mine. They should be about the right size."

Loki bit down on his tongue and forced himself not to mention something about Thor being bigger than him. He already felt insignificant and exposed enough now that he was standing here with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Thor seemed to have realized that he was halfnaked, and Loki could have sworn that he looked him up and down before quickly averting his eyes. Loki wasn't sure which one of them was more embarrassed. Either way, he was pretty sure that he wasn't the only one blushing at the moment.

"Here," Thor said again, holding out what looked to be a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Loki thanked him and turned back into the bathroom again, quickly putting them on and deciding that he rather liked the way Thor's clothes looked on him, even though they were a bit too big and not as tight as he would have liked them to be. He lifted the shirt up a bit and inhaled, trying to determine what it smelled like, which immediately made him feel like a creep and he hoped Thor didn't have hidden cameras in there. It smelled like sawdust and something else... some kind of spice. Cinnamon? He shook his head and decided that it didn't matter. He was only here to rest, not to smell people's shirts. 

He left the bathroom and travelled down the stairs, looking around for a moment before he found Thor in the kitchen, where he was standing by the stove. 

"There you are," Thor said as soon as he turned around and spotted him. "Are the clothes okay?" 

Loki nodded his head. "Yes, they're fine. Thank you." He sniffed, tilting his head to the side as he tried to see what Thor had in the pans and pots that were currently taking up all the space on the stove. 

"Something smells delicious."

"I didn't know what you liked," Thor said, opening up one of the cabinets and setting down two plates on the small table next to the window. "So I made some of everything."

Loki offered to help, and he finished setting the table as Thor finished his cooking. 

"I want to thank you again," Loki said as they sat down to eat. "This is... Well, this isn't something I would normally do." 

"Really? You're telling me you don't usually take showers in stranger’s houses?"

Loki rolled his eyes. 

"Funny." Thor chuckled, seemingly thinking that what he'd just said was hilarious. Loki disagreed. 

“Yes, I thought so.” 

Loki shook his head and eyed the food Thor had made, finally reaching for a bowl of pasta and what looked to be some kind of tomato sauce. 

"Do you always tell such lame jokes?" he asked as he put some food on his plate, and Thor laughed again, shrugging his shoulders but not saying anything else about it. Instead, he asked Loki why he had come here looking for Marston, and Loki let his eyes fall, hesitating for a long moment before he finally started talking. 

Marston had been his English professor in high school. He had always pushed him, had always been supportive of him even when no one else had been. Before Loki had graduated, he had given him his address and told him that if he ever needed his help with anything, or if he ever just needed to talk, he could come to him. Loki hadn't originally wanted to go, but since he'd found himself in a bad place, he had realized that he didn't have much else left. He didn’t have anyone else to turn to.

“It was a spontaneous decision,” he said, shrugging his shoulders as he sipped on his water. 

Thor had been watching him the entire time he’d been talking, and he could tell that he had questions he wanted to ask. Luckily, he seemed to be nice enough not to ask them. Loki appreciated that. He had no desire to pour his heart out to a stranger. Because that was what Thor was, no matter how nice he was. Loki didn't know him. He wasn't going to see him again after he'd left, and... Loki just didn't do that. He barely even talked to his family anymore. He hadn’t shared this much with anyone in what was probably at least three years. 

Thor eventually changed the subject, and the rest of the dinner went by without Loki having to lower his eyes again. He found that even though Thor's jokes continued to be incredibly lame, he was actually kind of fun to talk to. Sort of. He was certainly easy going enough, and Loki felt like he needed that. He needed someone to smile at him and actually mean it, and Thor did look like he meant it. He looked like he just wanted to make him feel better, and Loki had no idea why he would, but he appreciated it none the less. 

Once they had finished eating, and the dishes had been cleared away, it was already dark outside. Thor threw a look out the window and crossed his arms over his chest when Loki said that he should get going. 

"Are you sure you don't want to stay the night?"

Loki cocked an eyebrow, and Thor hurriedly shook his head, giving him an embarrassed smile. 

"I just meant that... Well, it's dark outside, and I don't know if you'll be able to find a train to take you back at this hour." 

Loki bit down on his bottom lip as he thought about it. The idea of having to get back out there wasn't a particularly tempting one, but at the same time, he wasn't sure if he wanted to stay in the house of someone he didn’t even know yet. He’d only been here a couple of hours. Thor could still be hiding bodies in his closet. Hm. He really should have checked for those when he’d been upstairs. 

"Fine," he finally said, nodding his head. "Yeah, that'd be great." He wondered where he would be sleeping. On the couch, presumably. He couldn't possibly get an invitation to stay in Thor's bed, right? And if he did, he would obviously turn it down. He wouldn't go to bed with him when they'd only known each other for a couple of hours. Not that Loki was a stranger to one night stands. He'd had them. Plenty of them. This was different, though. They’d met under completely different circumstances. They weren't surrounded by a lot of people, there was no loud music, and they weren't grinding against each other. If there was any kind of sexual tension, it was a lot more subtle than that. 

All of this just because he’d knocked on the wrong fucking door. 

Thor led him into the living room, and offered Loki a seat on the couch. He disappeared after a little while to make them both some tea, and Loki took the opportunity to get up and walk around the room for a bit, studying the many different pictures on the walls. He assumed that most of them were of Thor's friends. They looked like a happy bunch of people, and Loki found himself smiling as he looked at some of them. He even saw two people that had to be Thor’s parents, the two of them posing for the camera with their arms around each other. His chest suddenly felt a bit tighter, and he turned his eyes down, reaching up to brush a couple of dark strands of hair out of his face. 

"Are you alright?" Loki refused to acknowledge the fact that he'd just jumped. He was usually impossible to sneak up on, but Thor had obviously found a way to get around that. Loki cursed him for it. 

"I'm fine," he said, nodding his head. "This is... These are your friends, right?" Thor smiled and stepped closer, reaching up to point at the different people and tell him exactly who they were. Loki listened carefully, turning his eyes to Thor at one point, who was too busy looking at the pictures to notice. He quickly turned away as soon as Thor had finished speaking. 

"Are you sure you're alright?" Thor asked him again, and Loki nodded his head again.

"Okay." It was obvious that Thor didn't believe him, but he was once again nice enough not to ask him any more questions. Loki almost felt like hugging him for that. Almost. He was just about to thank him again when Thor turned around to go get their tea, and Loki sighed before heading back to the couch. 

There was something about Thor that made him feel incredibly... welcome. He just had such a natural charm about him, and when he came back and sat down next to him on the couch - which really was just as comfortable as he had thought it would be - he had Loki smiling again in just a matter of minutes. Loki had absolutely no idea how he was managing it. He hadn't smiled this much in a really long time. In a way, he was actually glad that his professor had moved out. He was sure that he would have tried to help him, but would he have been able to make him feel this good? He didn't know. He didn't think so. 

Once Loki had yawned more than five times in less than five minutes, Thor decided that it was time for them to go to bed. He sent Loki upstairs to the bathroom, telling him there was a spare toothbrush on one of the shelves to the right of the sink. 

When Loki came back downstairs again, Thor had put two pillows and a big blanket on top of the couch. 

"Here you go," he said. "I've put some extra blankets over here, in case you get cold." He gestured towards a chair on the other side of the room. 

There was an awkward pause, and Loki averted his eyes, finding it much easier to stare at the couch.

"Well. Good night." There was a hand on his shoulder, and Loki snapped his eyes back to Thor, biting the inside of his lip in some kind of strange attempt at stopping himself from blushing again. It almost worked. 

"Good night." 

Thor disappeared up the stairs, and Loki sat down on the couch, letting out a heavy sigh before lying down on it. It was actually kind of comfortable. It wasn't nearly as nice as his own bed, of course, but what else could he possibly have expected? He heard Thor moving around upstairs, and he looked at the ceiling as he pulled the blanket over himself.

Finally, the place grew quiet again, and Loki let out another sigh before closing his eyes. Nothing. He didn't feel nearly as tired as he had done a couple of seconds ago. Huffing, he turned to his side. Still nothing. He tossed and turned for what was probably half an hour, before he finally gave up and decided that staring up at the ceiling was a much better way of spending the night. He wondered what Thor was doing up there. He was probably sleeping. 

There was an annoying part of him that wished Thor would come downstairs and join him on the couch. It sounded a little bit too much like something out of a romantic comedy, but he was okay with that. He could make it work. Thor would hold him in his arms. Obviously Loki hadn't gotten the chance to touch those arms just yet, but he just knew that Thor's embrace would be firm, but gentle. He would press soft kisses to his neck or something like that, and Loki would finally be able to go to sleep. 

Unfortunately, Thor didn't come. Loki had no idea how much time had passed. At one point, he thought he heard a noise, and he pushed himself up a little bit, running his fingers through his hair just in case it was Thor. But it wasn't. It was a cat. Where did he come from? Was Thor hiding cats in his house? Loki furrowed his brow, and watched as the cat jumped up on the couch and slowly made its way over to his stomach. It was mostly black, with a white stomach and paws. Loki slowly moved a hand out from underneath the blanket to pet it. 

"Hello. Who are you?" The cat turned its yellow eyes towards him and seemed to decide that he was comfortable enough, and it slowly lay down on top of his stomach. Well. He certainly wasn't going to be able to get much sleep now. 

"Can't you go sleep with him instead?” he asked, letting out a soft groan. The cat closed its eyes and put his head against his own paws. Loki raised his eyebrows. Obviously the cat wasn’t about to listen to him. Great. That was just great. 

By the time Thor came back downstairs, the sun was already up, and Loki had gotten maybe four hours of sleep. He was still surprisingly relaxed, and he wondered if the cat had something to do with that. He’d only left the couch for a short moment to eat, and Loki had taken the opportunity to go get a glass of water. Both of them had eventually made their way back to the couch, and were now sitting side by side, Loki occasionally reaching out to brush his fingers against the cat's soft fur.

Thor smiled as soon as he saw the two of them, and Loki smiled back, licking his lips when he noticed that Thor was wearing a white t-shirt that showed off the obviously amazing body underneath. He he had to suppress a groan. It was just way too early in the morning for that kind of hotness. He hadn’t even had his coffee yet.

"I see you've met Sheamus. I was wondering if he'd be down here with you."

"We've bonded," Loki said, stroking the cat's head. Thor chuckled and nodded. 

"I can see that. Do you want me to make you some breakfast?" he asked. "Or do you need to get going?" He took a couple of steps closer. "It's not raining anymore." He almost looked disappointed by that fact, and Loki turned his eyes to the windows, wondering if he should stay a little while longer. Thor was obviously a good cook, and he didn’t really feel like having breakfast on the train. He didn’t really feel like leaving at all. He liked it here. He was comfortable. 

"Breakfast would be great," he said, and Thor smiled before turning around to head into the kitchen. Watching his back, Loki hesitated for a moment before deciding that he might as well give it a fucking shot. What did he have to lose, right? Not much. Nothing really. He couldn’t lose something he didn’t even have. 

"I was wondering..." Thor stopped and turned around, waiting for him to continue, and Loki took a deep breath. Now was not the time to be a coward. 

"Well, I've never been to this town before, and... I don't need to get back just yet. It would be nice to be shown around by someone who knows this place. So. If you want, maybe you... Maybe we could..." Oh, he was awful at this. Since when did he not know how to ask someone for something? Damn Thor and that stupid smile of his. It obviously made him nervous, and he couldn't figure out what to say. That never happened. Never! “Besides, I feel like it would be rude of me to leave Sheamus so soon. We’re only just getting to know each other.”

He studied Thor's face carefully, waiting for his reaction. He looked amused, like he was trying to suppress a laugh, and Loki held his breath, wondering if he was about to regret ever opening his big mouth.

"Sounds great," Thor finally said, and Loki let out a relieved sigh, hoping he looked like he'd expected him to say as much. "I’m sure Sheamus would love for you to stay. He could use the company.”

Loki chuckled, glancing over at the cat again, and Thor smiled, giving them both a long look before taking a couple of steps over to the kitchen. 

“So. Are waffles okay?"

Loki nodded his head, turning to smile back at him.

“Waffles would be great.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! ^^
> 
>  


End file.
